Chapter 35 Buying Meat
After Gu Xiyue learned that the three military officers and Hu Mazi's family members had been rescued, the stone in her heart fell to the ground.
Regarding the restoration of freedom of the entrance and exit to the Southern Wilderness, she and Xiao Heng agreed not to tell everyone for the time being to avoid causing other troubles.
The capital has just relaxed its vigilance. If the folks in the Southern Wilderness know that they can enter and leave the Southern Wilderness freely, and someone secretly returns to the capital and attracts the attention of the capital, it will be troublesome.
Moreover, once Nanhuang's relatives in the capital knew that they were fine, if they shouted it out, Nanhuang would be put in a passive position.
Therefore, it is better not to say anything for now. Let everyone improve their lives first and talk about freedom later. When the time is right and the people in Beijing have completely forgotten about this place, we can slowly tell our relatives in Beijing.
No matter what, the people of Southern Wilderness can't go back. In the hearts of the Emperor and the Second Prince, they are already dead.
"What about the two cart pockets?"
Gu Xiyue began to think about the current situation. There were still three days before the delivery, and packing the sea salt into pockets was a big project.
"The carriage was brought back yesterday. I've already asked Zhao Yancheng and the others to make arrangements. They started packing the goods yesterday. Each bag is 50 kilograms. Don't worry."
"That's good!"
Gu Xiyue felt relieved, as long as it didn't delay things.
Hearing that everyone had started packing the bags, she could no longer sit still. She got out of bed and packed up. When she went out, she found that there was no salt left in the yard.
Xiao Heng smiled and said, "Yesterday we packed all the salt in the yard into bags. There were over four hundred bags in total, and they're all stacked in the shed by the dock."
There were more than 400 bags weighing more than 20,000 kilograms, which were piled high in the shed next to it. Now that the salt has been loaded away, the yard feels a lot more spacious, and the shed is just enough for horses and carriages to live in.
Gu Xiyue went directly to the pier on the west side of the sea. When he arrived, the scene in front of him made Gu Xiyue a little moved.
In order to store salt, four salt warehouses were built on the inside of the wharf near the foot of the mountain. Each salt warehouse can hold about 80,000 kilograms of salt. In the past two days, two salt warehouses have been full, totaling almost 100,000 kilograms.
What Gu Xiyue didn't expect was that everyone was so quick that they had already filled up the salt warehouse.
The packed sea salt has been neatly stacked in the empty salt warehouse outside.
Zhao Yancheng was packing the remaining salt with dozens of other people, and Gu Xiyue noticed that there were not many bags left in the cloth bags stacked up next to them.
"Let's work harder and try to fill these bags before lunch so we can start extracting salt from the four salt flats this afternoon."
Zhao Yancheng held up his pocket and let Wang Hu pour money into it, while encouraging everyone.
Gu Xiyue stood behind and watched quietly. There were both men and women filling the sea salt. Basically, the women held the bags while the men shoveled the salt in. These women originally collected salt at the seaside and also came to help fill the salt.
Everyone was talking and laughing. Although everyone looked tired, their hands were not slow at all.
"Lao Zhao, we worked together until midnight last night. You said you would sing a song for us today. When will you sing it?"
Everyone was talking and laughing when a woman with a loud voice shouted loudly. Everyone followed suit and asked Zhao Yancheng to sing.
Zhao Yancheng waved his hand and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, when our Miss Gu wakes up, these pockets will almost be filled. Then I will sing for you."
We worked until midnight last night, which was around midnight.
Gu Xiyue was completely stunned.
There are at least a few thousand pockets left, and they can't go on like this.
She turned and looked at Xiao Heng with a reproachful look on her face.
Xiao Heng helplessly spread his hands and said, "I was busy watching you yesterday, so I just asked Brother Zhao to take the bag away and let them take the sea salt in the yard. I guess he brought people to the seaside later on his own initiative."
Gu Xiyue coaxed her eyes, turned her head, and walked over quickly.
"Brother Zhao!" Gu Xiyue shouted.
When Zhao Yancheng and everyone else heard her voice, they were stunned for a moment, then stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her.
After discovering that it was really Gu Xiyue, everyone showed happy smiles on their faces and walked towards her.
Gu Xiyue was surrounded by everyone in an instant. Everyone asked her about her life and showed concern for her health.
Gu Xiyue turned around and smiled, letting everyone look at her. "Look, I'm fine. Don't worry. It's just you guys who are working so hard. Why are you rushing? The ship won't be loaded until two days later. What if you work until midnight and ruin your health?"
When Gu Xiyue spoke, her eyes were red, her concern was evident in her words, and her voice was filled with worry.
"You will all be the main force in creating a better life for us from now on. If you get exhausted, where will I find people as good as you?"
Gu Xiyue said these words of concern to them in a complaining tone, "Don't do this again in the future, do you hear me?"
Everyone listened and felt warm in their hearts.
Miss Gu needs them, and they need Miss Gu even more. They are lucky to have met a backbone who is so sincere to her.
They are happy in their hearts and are not afraid of working hard because they have a goal in life.
But in order to not make Miss Gu sad, they all nodded and agreed to eat well, sleep well, and not work late at night.
Gu Xiyue asked everyone to take a break after filling the bags in their hands, and to fill them slowly without rushing.
Seeing that they agreed, he turned around and went back.
On the way back, she felt very uncomfortable thinking about everyone's hard work these days.
After returning to the house, he asked Meixiang to find the purse and said, "Your Highness, let's go out and buy some meat to improve everyone's meals. These days, everyone has been working non-stop. Eating only grains and vegetables all day is not enough nutrition."
Xiao Heng nodded, "I'll do as you say."
Gu Xiyue looked at the time. It was just the Si hour. He could go out now and start stewing the meat when he came back in the afternoon. Everyone would be able to eat meat at dinner time.
Xiao Heng asked Wei Lin to harness the carriage, and the cart was also hung behind the carriage. Wei Lin and Meixiang followed them this time. Gu Xiyue and Xiao Heng got on the carriage, and after leaving the yard, they went directly along the seaside road to the east exit.
The road was paved with stone slabs, and the surface was wide and smooth, making it easy for the carriage to drive on it. As he passed by, Gu Xiyue leaned against the window, looking outside and waving to the people who were working.
Everyone thought that Gu Xiyue went out to pull cloth bags or do something else. They knew that Gu Xiyue cooperated with the governor of Ganzhou, so she was able to enter and exit the east gate. They were very grateful to her in their hearts, and also thought that after receiving her wages in the future, she would ask Gu Xiyue to bring them some things when she went out.
No one knew that Gu Xiyue went out to buy meat.
When he arrived at the east entrance, Gu Xiyue found that the guards at the entrance had been replaced by Tian Hefei and others. The security had been strengthened, and it looked very safe.
She smiled and waved at Tian Hefei. The moment Tian Hefei saw her, he blushed and lowered his head, then quickly bowed and stepped back, standing where she couldn't see him.
Gu Xiyue looked puzzled. After leaving the east gate, she asked Xiao Heng, "Why does he act like a mouse seeing a cat when he sees me? I won't eat him, so why is he hiding?"
Xiao Heng looked calm and smiled as he helped her analyze the reason. "Maybe it's because of what happened yesterday. I feel guilty about you, so I feel a little embarrassed to see you."
"Really? But I just told him that I've forgiven him and don't take it to heart."
Gu Xiyue still found it difficult to understand.
Sitting outside, Wei Lin couldn't help but smile. Mei Xiang, who was standing next to him, saw that he was smiling strangely and slapped him, "What are you laughing at?"
"Before, he was always elusive when he left the East Gate, but this time he actually came out in a carriage. It feels completely different."
"Just because of this smile?"
Meixiang doesn't look like her at all.
And why didn't he laugh earlier or later? He only laughed after listening to the conversation between the young lady and the prince, and after seeing that Tian Hefei.
Xiao Heng in the carriage heard the conversation between Wei Lin and Mei Xiang. He rubbed his fingers hidden in his sleeves together and reminded Wei Lin to drive carefully without changing his expression.
Wei Lin quickly agreed, his face became serious, he put away his smile and focused on driving.
Gu Xiyue also noticed that there was something strange there, but he couldn't explain it clearly for the moment.
Several people headed straight for Xifeng Town. Since the carriage they took this time was quite fast, they arrived at the street of Xifeng Town in about half an hour. The butcher had not sold much meat that morning. He had slaughtered a pig this morning and only sold less than ten pounds. He was sitting there worrying about what to do if he couldn't sell all the remaining meat.
In such hot weather, meat is difficult to preserve and will spoil easily.
If it really didn't work out, he was going to lower the price. Just as he was worrying about it, Gu Xiyue's carriage slowly stopped in front of his shop.
"Shopkeeper, how much do you want for this meat?"
Gu Xiyue asked with a smile as she looked at the separated pork thighs, ribs and several whole pieces of pure meat on the stall.
The butcher saw that the business had come and he quickly said with a smile: "Young lady, I can tell from the looks of it that you are from a wealthy family. Take a look and tell me how much you want. If you want more, I can give you a discount."
Then he started explaining the prices of the meat, "This pork belly is thirteen cents a pound, spare ribs are twelve cents a pound, pork legs with bones are also twelve cents, and these..."
"What if I want them all?"
The butcher glanced at her indifferently, not taking her words to heart at all.
Although she looked like a lady from a wealthy family, how could a lady buy so much meat, unless there was a wedding or funeral at home.
But even if that was the case, it was the housekeeper or the men in the family who went out to buy the meat, and she was just a young lady, and she asked for it all.
He couldn't believe it.
"My dear, please don't tease me in this hot weather. I know pork is not selling well these past two days, so please don't make fun of me."
"She's not making fun of you. We really want them all. Look, the cart is here."
Xiao Heng appeared behind Gu Xiyue and said to the butcher with a smile.
The butcher was stunned for a second, then immediately realized what was happening. His face lit up instantly, and he almost couldn't see his eyes from laughing.
"I didn't recognize the real thing!" He said, grabbing the machete in his hand. "My dear husband, my dear wife, this meat, bones and flesh, weighs a total of 156 pounds. If you want it all, I'll give you 150 pounds and give me twelve cents per pound. How do you think?"
Gu Xiyue thought the price was acceptable. Xiao Heng looked at her, then stuck his head in and looked inside, and saw something in a wooden basin behind the butcher.
The butcher thought the smell of that thing was making them uncomfortable, so he quickly said embarrassedly, "That's pork offal. No one wants it. The smell is really strong. I'm sorry if it irritated you all!"
"That's fine!" Xiao Heng said with a smile, "Twelve cents a pound. If the shopkeeper gives me all the pork offal, I'll pay you what you want. How about that?"
The butcher thought there was something wrong with his ears.
No one wants this thing if I give it to others. How come this man who looks innocent wants pig offal!
But seeing that they didn't look like they were joking, he quickly asked tentatively, "Young Master, are you telling the truth?"
Xiao Heng nodded and reached out to push Gu Xiyue from behind.
Gu Xiyue was also confused. She had read books before, which said that people in ancient times did not eat pig offal. She did not expect that Xiao Heng, who was of noble status, would take the initiative to ask for pig offal.
She leaned over and whispered to him, "Can you make these?"
Xiao Heng nodded affirmatively.
Gu Xiyue nodded immediately.
Pig offal is a delicacy once it is processed. Since he nodded, it means that he is sure about it, so what are you waiting for!
Seeing that the two really wanted it, the butcher nodded and said, "No problem, I'll give it to you two!"
After that, he helped Gu Xiyue and the others move the meat onto the cart. He put hay under the meat and wrapped it with three layers of coarse paper. As for the basin of pig offal, he simply put it and the basin on the bus for them.
The total cost of buying this meat was one ounce and eight cents.
The butcher was still in a daze until they walked a long way out. Then he reacted and immediately ran forward, caught up with Gu Xiyue's carriage and shouted, "My two distinguished guests, my name is Ma Liuzi, I live in Beidong Lane. If you need pork in the future, you can ask someone to come to me and I can deliver it to your door."
Gu Xiyue smiled and said okay, stretched her head and waved at him, asking him to run slower and that she would come again next time if needed.
She asked Meixiang and Weilin to write down the butcher's name and address, so that maybe she could ask him to deliver the pigs to Dongkou in the future.
“Why don’t we raise our own pigs?”
Meixiang suddenly asked.
"Yes, we can raise pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, etc. We can raise anything."
Gu Xiyue's eyes lit up, and Xiao Heng looked at her with a smile.
"Since we don't plan to plant crops on the sloped field behind the house, and there are so many weeds, we can fence it off and raise pigs, chickens, ducks, and geese in the back hillside."
Gu Xiyue felt happy when she thought about this, but Xiao Heng's words extinguished her thoughts.
"As far as I know, there are often wild wolves in the back mountains."
Gu Xiyue immediately gave up the idea of raising pigs, chickens, ducks and geese on the hillside behind, but since he had this idea, he could find other ways to realize it later. If that didn't work, he could just raise them in a pen.
Also, after all, it is close to the sea. Gu Xiyue had not found any seafood on the seashore before, but now that he has a boat, fishing in the sea is possible.
She asked Wei Lin to drive to find someone to buy a fishing net. On the way, she also went to see a place selling chickens and ducks. She planned to come back in a few days to buy a batch and then find a place to raise them in the Southern Wilderness. By the end of the year, she would have enough chicken and duck meat to eat, as well as eggs.
After searching for several streets, he finally found a fishing net. Although it was not as good as modern ones, Gu Xiyue wanted to buy it and try it out. If he could really catch some seafood, the villagers would have more food.
Finally, I bought some more vegetables and a big bag of candy and snacks to take back, intending to give them to the children.
On the way back, the cart was filled with snacks and candies. Several people held two cakes each and ate as the cart moved.
It’s almost lunch time when I get back, so I can just eat some bread and don’t have to cook.
After entering the Southern Wilderness, Gu Xiyue found that everyone had already eaten lunch and went out to work. The cart behind the carriage was full, but it was covered with grass. After passing by, a strange and stinky smell was left behind. Everyone speculated what was on it.
Some people guessed it was pig offal. After all, when they were in Beijing, they often ate meat and had smelled the smell of pig offal.
Although they guessed it, everyone was a little unsure. After all, they hadn't smelled it for several years. Besides, who would buy this thing and eat it?
So no one guessed anymore.
Gu Xiyue endured the hardship all the way until she reached the door of her house. Xiao Heng asked Wei Lin to bring the basin of pig offal into the yard.
Before leaving, he asked Wei Lin to fetch water from the east to fill the two water tanks at home.
After giving the instructions, he personally drove the carriage, took Gu Xiyue with him, and pulled the cart directly to the canteen.
Madam Liu and the others were washing pots and dishes. When they saw Xiao Heng driving over in a carriage, they all went out to greet him.
"Mr. Xiao, have you had lunch with Madam Gu?"
Madam Liu said affectionately.
Gu Xiyue got out of the carriage and prepared to get off. Madam Li hurried over to help her, but saw Xiao Heng turned around and had already helped her down.
"There's rice heating up in the pot for you, come in and eat."
"We've already had lunch, don't worry, sisters."
As Gu Xiyue spoke, he stepped forward and held the hands of Madam Liu and Madam Li, and then greeted Granny Liu, Madam Zhou, and Madam Shen.
"Follow me!"
After saying that, he took them to the back of the carriage.
Madam Liu and the others looked at the tightly covered grass on the shuttle bus and asked curiously, "What does Madam Gu want us to see?"
Gu Xiyue pulled aside a corner of the hay, revealing the meat wrapped in coarse paper.
She reached out and pulled it open a little, revealing the tender pork inside.
Madam Liu was shocked and could hardly believe it. "It's pork?"
Gu Xiyue smiled and nodded. Xiao Heng had already helped to remove all the hay from the cart.
When Madam Liu and the others saw the cart full of meat, they were stunned.
"Mrs. Gu, did you buy a whole pig?"
Granny Liu looked at the beautifully colored pork on the cart in disbelief.
"almost!"
Gu Xiyue walked over and hugged Granny Liu's arm.
"Everyone has worked hard during this period, busy day and night. Fortunately, everything is going smoothly. In two or three days, we will start delivering goods, and then we will have income. So I will go out today and buy some meat to improve everyone's meals."
The eyes of Granny Liu and the others instantly became moist.
She patted Gu Xiyue's hands a few times and said with a touching face: "Miss Gu, thank you so much! If it weren't for you, we don't know what would happen now. Maybe I would have died. It's you who gave us food to eat and work to do. Our life is getting better day by day. Sometimes I can't believe it when I lie in bed. All this is real."
"Look at you, you bought so much pork again today, we don't know what to say!"
After she finished speaking, she was already in tears and looked like a mess.
Madam Liu and the others also had tears in their eyes.
They hadn't eaten meat for several years, and seeing so much meat in front of them felt unreal.
Besides, even in the capital before, I only ate a little meat. I have never seen so much meat.
"Don't be sad, it's just a little pork. You are all great. If it weren't for you, things wouldn't be so smooth. We are all in this together. What's wrong with eating a little meat? Our lives will get better and better from now on, and we can eat meat every day."
Just thinking about those days makes me happy.
"Okay! I'll give you all this meat today. You can prepare it all and let everyone have a good meal tonight. After a few days, when we deliver the goods, I'll buy more meat."
Madam Liu smiled and nodded, tears in her eyes. She pulled Granny Liu together to comfort her, and everyone felt warm in their hearts.
Xiao Heng helped them carry all the meat back and talked for a while. Madam Liu and the others were worried about Gu Xiyue's health and persuaded Xiao Heng to take her back to rest.
They promised that they would cook all the meat in the evening so that everyone could have enough to eat.
One hundred and fifty kilograms of meat, including bones. There are nearly three hundred people in Nanhuang, adults and children. To be honest, there won’t be much meat in each person’s bowl. If you add some side dishes, it’s still a lot.
As soon as Xiao Heng and Gu Xiyue left, Madam Liu and the others started to get busy.
They hadn't eaten meat for several years, and when they touched the meat again, they were trembling inside. When they separated the meat, washed it, cut it into pieces and started stewing it in the pot, everyone's face was filled with happy smiles.
When the pot was cooked, the aroma began to drift across the southern wilderness. Even if the sea breeze was strong, the aroma of meat would still go against the wind and drift into the noses of the people who were working.
All the people working on the beach were instantly excited.
When the carriage came back, everyone smelled a foul odor and was wondering what was inside. Now, after smelling the fragrance, they all knew.
It turned out that Miss Gu went out today to buy meat for them.
We actually have meat to eat tonight. Just thinking about it makes everyone's mouths water.
I haven't eaten meat for so long that I've forgotten what it tastes like.
I tried to recall the taste, but I couldn't remember it.
Now, when they smelled the aroma of meat, their mouths were watering with greed. They felt touched and sad at the same time. They moved faster and did not relax at all.
Thinking about having meat to eat in the evening, everyone started chatting with each other and telling each other about their previous experiences of eating meat. Some people had long forgotten the taste of pork and couldn't get a word in. Even if they did, they could only talk nonsense out of their imagination, which made everyone laugh.
Everyone originally thought that each person could only eat two or three slices of meat, but when they actually lined up to get food, they were shocked by the scene in front of them.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
